


i won't come back to you broken, i won't stay away too long

by charjace



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: M/M, Youtuber AU, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-29 02:38:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10844751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charjace/pseuds/charjace
Summary: Jace has been working at a small cafe in LA for almost five years now, and his sister Izzy studies there a lot. One day, she invites along a boy that Jace immediately finds cute. Apparently her plan was for the two to meet and go on some kind of date, but neither male’s make the first move until months later. But, things aren’t always what they seem, and everyone has their secrets? Maybe some have more then others.





	i won't come back to you broken, i won't stay away too long

It was a nice day outside; the sun was a warm feeling on his skin when it made its way in through the windows of the little café he was in. Inside, it was calm enough, only a few costumers were sitting around. A couple sat on one of the outside tables, clearly on a date. There was his sister who was sitting at a table with her school work splayed out in front of her with a half drunken caramel frappe sitting on a plate that had once held a blueberry muffin. Her black hair was pulled back into a long plait that rested at her back. Other than that, it was pretty quiet at moment – granted it was only two in the afternoon. The rush of customers would file back in, it always did.

“Hey Jace,” His sister called out, looking up from her spot and flashing him a smile with her red painted lips. He looks over to her with a smile of his own, raising an eyebrow at her in reply, “Could I get a…” She looked down at her phone before saying, “Large long black. On my tab, you know I’ll pay.”

“I know you pay Iz,” Jace replies, going over to the machine and making a long black and writing it down on her tab. Just as he delivered the drink to Isabelle’s table, a male walked in and Isabelle immediately flagged him down.

The male, was just that bit shorter than him with mousey brown hair and he was clad in jeans, plaid shirt with a pop culture reference on the t-shirt he had underneath that. His brown eyes framed by a pair of glasses, a smile etched upon the male’s lips as he took a seat opposite Isabelle, “Order something to eat, it can go on my tab.”

“I’m not hungry. Honestly, me and Clary just finished our latest chapter for our graphic novel and we had a bunch of snacks. But, thanks for the coffee,” The boy rambles a little and Jace could feel himself fighting a smile, so he turns to go back behind the counter.

There was a rush of people coming into the café an hour later, some college students who came here to study or break. Some were aspiring actors with their scripts out on the tables with their coffees, with a sprinkle of musicians around. What can he say, it was a normal sight at this LA café, not that he minded the pace of the average sized shop. It wasn’t a small café, but it wasn’t that big either and in Jace’s opinion it was the right size for when it’s quiet and he’s the only one on the floor (besides the cook). Right now, his co worker, Maia (who arrived right before the rush, amazing timing if you ask Jace) was behind the cash register as she took in the last order from the big rush. The next minute she’s beside him taking the coffee’s he had just finished off, him telling her what they were before she’s off delivering them. They handle the rush wonderfully, and Jace doesn’t notice until the place died down that Isabelle’s company left. Some part of him wanted to see the other again, but he didn’t know a thing about the other besides the fact that he knows Isabelle and Isabelle’s girlfriend.

“You can clock out now Jace,” Maia says with a light smile towards him, “I’ve got closing. I already told Lydia she can, so she and John are heading out.”

“You trynna clock on the extra hours?” Jace muses with a playful smirk earning him a hit of the tea towel that Maia had in her hands. He raised his hands up in surrender, “I’ll go, been here since opening anyway.” He replies with a shrug of his shoulder, taking off the apron he had around his waist, “Iz, you coming with me?” The blond asks as he’s moving to the back, gathering his things not waiting for an answer from the raven-haired girl. If she was going to, when he came back out she’d be gathering her things ready to go.

When he gets to the back, he pulls off his black work shirt and pulls on a clean tank top before he’s pulling on his leather jacket that hanged on the wall. Placing his work shirt into his bag, he hulls it onto his shoulder before walking out to see Isabelle standing with her own bag slung over her shoulder as she paid off her tab. They share a smile before saying their goodbyes to Maia and leaving the café for the day.

**

“Oh my _god_ Clary,” He exclaimed as he flopped himself on his friend’s bed, a childish sigh falling out of his mouth. A light pout formed upon his lips, his eyes looking over to the redhead who was hunched over her desk with a pen and paper at work while a camera was angled above her to capture her work as she slid her pen over the paper. It was times like these that he was grateful that her works were speed paintings so that he could talk about whatever he wanted while she did her videos because it was going to be unheard from her subscribers. “He was like _really_ cute, but also hot. How does Izzy expect me to ask him out? He’s way out of my league.”

“You’re being hard on yourself Si,” Clary says pausing her movements to give her friend a look. A few strands of her red hair fall into her eyes as she did. She pushes back the lose strands and gives a smile towards her friend. “Just ask him, I’m sure the guy is alright. Iz wouldn’t do you like that.”

“Izzy tell you who he was did she?” Simon muses, raising an eyebrow at the redhead who shook her head in reply, “It was her brother. Not Alec, I’ve meet that one before. You know at Magnus’ ‘Thank God Camille is in Jail’ party.”

“Bitched deserves to be there,” Clary murmurs before going back to her artwork, “Just go back to the café tomorrow and ask him out.”

“Will do,” Simon says, knowing full well that he wasn’t going to be doing that. He might go to the café, but he will probably _not_ ask out the cute barista. He’d trip over his words and embarrass himself if he did that. He hears Clary let out a sigh, and he knows that she knows he’s lying. They were such good friends like that. “I’m going to cook us dinner.”

With that, he gets off of Clary’s bed and heads into the kitchen that is when he heard his phone go off signalling that he got a notification.  Few years back, hearing that noise would make him wonder what was happening, but since he’s made himself a YouTube channel he’s gotten use to the little pings from his phone. The most he’s gotten so far was twenty in one day. He doesn’t care about how _popular_ he is; just that he’s doing what he loves which is sharing his love of music with everyone. And okay, there maybe a few _nerdy_ videos of him geeking out about his favourite things. Plus, he knows you can only start of _small_ and work your way up. Pulling out his phone, he sees that he’s got a new subscriber and he _almost_ drops his phone because that cann _ot_ be who he thinks it is following him.

“Clary!” He calls out, eyes bugging and seconds later a frantic looking Clary stumbles into the kitchen.  Clearly startled by the way he had called her name, if her tense shoulders were anything to go by but they relax once she see’s that it was just Simon in the kitchen. He holds out his phone towards her showing her the notification that read **DemonicAngel has subscribed to LewisSimonLewis.**

“Oh shit, they’re one of your favourites. How’d they find you?” Clary asks curiosity in her voice as a huge grin spread across her lips. She grabs hold of Simon’s phone as she stares at the phone, then her own phone pings and she lets out a squeal  and shows Simon her own which reads **DemonicAngel has subscribed to FrayArt. DemonicAngel has subscribed to LewisAndFrayAdventures.** “Simon, I think this is a sign, you go ask out Jace _tomorrow_!”

“I’ll try, that is all you’re getting out of me,” Simon informs Clary as he takes his phone back and shoos Clary back to finish her work while he cooks them dinner.

**

Its three months later and Jace has learnt that the boy’s name is Simon. Simon has a small group of friends that consist of Clary, a very artistic redhead who he had meet a month before due to her dating his sister. Then there is Raphael, a sharp looking guy who always seemed to dress to impress, Jace isn’t sure what he makes of the other and on a few occasions, he’s seen Magnus with the other. Magnus was currently dating his brother and it makes him wonder how in the hell he has never meet Simon until that day in the café. But, it doesn’t take him long to figure out it’s because he’s always been busy with his own studies, and training…and other things.

The door to the café opens, and in walks Clary and Simon followed by a face he found familiar. The familiar guy tells the pair to go take a seat while he orders. Clary and Simon walk over to a table, Jace did notice the light slump in the girl’s shoulder’s as she sat and the way Simon put a comforting arm around his friend. He finishes cleaning up the area he was cleaning, placing the cloth to the side as the male walked up to the counter. Jace flashes a smile as he greets the other, “Hey Luke, what can I get for you?”

The male flashes a smile, but it doesn’t seem to meet his eyes – not like it usually does and that makes a small frown tug at the corner of Jace’s lips. “Just, two hot chocolates for those two please Jace and then a word,” Luke replies, his tone a little serious as he let the words out.

Jace gives a small nod of his head, he motions to Lydia, who he sees walk in through the back door, to come take his place. He tells her of the orders before he’s leading Luke out the back. Once they’re outside, he’s crossing his arms against his chest, waiting for the older male to talk.

It was silent for a little while, but then Luke spoke, “Valentine is in town Jace.”

The words, they made him freeze in his spot completely and now days it took quite a lot to do that to him, but that would definitely be able to do just that. He could feel his heart pick up a bit, he shifts on his feet a little before sucking in a deep breath, “Okay. I’ll keep a low profile. I always have since the Lightwoods moved us here. Plus, we filed a restraining order which I always renew because he is _constantly_ a threat.”

“I know Jace, which is why I want you to be near Clary whenever you can,” Luke tells Jace, earning a confused look from the other. Letting out a soft sigh the older male continues, “He might go after Clary, because Clary is his daughter. She barely knew him because…you know why but recently he sent her a message which she got to me as quick as possible. May I ask, has he tried to contact you?”

Jace gives a shake of his head, “No. I change my number every two years and don’t have any online profiles.”

“Good, you know my number if he ever does try too. I’ve got to get back to work and I’m sure you do too. I’ll leave Clary and Simon here, if you can try and get them to stay as long as they can until you leave would be best,” Luke asks, there was a tiny plea to his voice, but Jace understood why.

Nodding his head, he walks back into the café and Luke follows before saying a goodbye to Clary and Simon. Jace walks behind the counter, standing next to Lydia who was topping up the supplies. “I’m going to clock out at four today, is that alright with you?”

Lydia turned her head to look at Jace, taking in the way he was holding himself and gives a small nod, “Sure, I haven’t done a closing in a while,” Lydia replies, turning back to her task.

Jace knows that the blonde knows it’s not often he actually asks to be the one who leaves first; he’s generally the one who does the closing most of the time. He likes to be busy and being in the café, helps with that. He goes back into the kitchen to his bag and pulls out some money that he puts in the back of his pocket, before he’s walking himself over to where Clary and Simon were seated. “Hey, can I get you guys something to eat? It’s on the house today,” Jace offers, flashing a smile at the pair.

There is a sniffle from Clary as she looks up at Jace, a weak smile upon her lips “Um, the nachos please.” Her voice was a little hoarse, but Jace is able to hear it.

He turns his head to look at Simon, “The same, but…”

“Vegetarian, yep. They’ll be right out,” Jace replies, smiling as he see’s Simon’s lips tug into a smile. He informs the chef of the food orders, and programs them into the system and places his money into the register. It was on the house for the pair of friends, but he was the one paying – not that they need to know that. Once the food was ready, Jace went over to them and placed their food in front of them, “If you guys wait around until four, we could go to mine and watch a few movies.”

“That sounds nice, could I invite Izzy around?” Clary asks as she’s picking up a chip before popping it into her mouth. Jace nods his head in reply, “Wonderful.”

**

 Four came around, and Jace clocked off. Isabelle had arrived half an hour ago and was talking with Clary and Simon when finished, his bag hung over his shoulder. They walk out to his car, saying a goodbye to Lydia as they had left the café. Clary, Isabelle and Simon both took seats in the back of the car, so Jace placed his bag on the passenger seat. They were almost to his place when Clary’s phone went off, she answered it and in the review mirror he could see her pale. She holds it out between the three in the back as she hits the speaker phone.

“Clarissa, you there?” A voice sounded from the phone, and Jace slammed on the brakes of the car. Thanking whatever god is out there that the street wasn’t busy.

“Hang up now,” Jace spoke through gritted teeth, turning his body to look at the three in the back.

“Joh-,” The voice on the other ended because Jace had pressed the end button.

“I said hang _up_. He could trace you if you answer. God,” Jace says before he’s turning his attention back to the road, and driving. Ignoring the looks the others were giving him.

Arriving at his place, he opens the door and lets everyone in but he pulls Isabelle aside, telling the others to find their way to the living area. The two friends nodded their heads before they walked further into the small house, while Isabelle and Jace move just outside the front door.

“What was that in the car?” The question falling past Isabelle’s red painted lips before Jace can get in a word otherwise. Her arms crossing against her chest, the shirt she was wearing was showing off the few tattoos’ she’s got upon her upper arms.

Sucking in a deep breath and slowly letting it out before he answers her, “Valentine. Luke told me he’s back in town… and…” It’s not his place to say, not really.

Isabelle gasps a little, her hand going to cover her mouth, “You mean…Valentine’s Cl-,” She stops because Clary calls out her name. “We should go inside; I think I’ve got it. I suppose you want to find a way to keep her here?”

Jace nodded his head, he would do what he can to protect Clary and not just because she’s his sister’s girlfriend. She had become a friend of his own, and he protects his friends. He follows Isabelle inside; they find Simon and Clary sitting on the couch. Isabelle is quick to go sit in her girlfriend’s lap so Jace asks them if anyone wants a drink.

They ended up watching movies until Clary had fallen asleep in Isabelle’s arms. Jace was amazed that he was able to put the pair to bed without them waking up, just incoherent mumbles. He’d given them his bed; he would sleep on the couch and offer Simon the spare bedroom. Walking over to a Simon who was clearly fighting off sleep as he watched the last few minutes of the movie playing, he gives Simon’s shoulder a light tap. There is a light mumble from the brunette’s lips and he shifts a bit on the couch. Fighting a smile, he decides to pick Simon up and bring him to the spare bedroom. He gently placed the other on the bed, pulling off his shoes and jersey. Placing them right on the chair in the corner of the room which should be in his line of sight when Simon wakes up in the morning, seconds after he hears soft light snores falling from Simon as he’s leaving. He sets himself up on the couch, and falls asleep.

He’s waking up to his alarm on his phone going off, groaning he gets up and folds up the blanket, placing the pillow he had used on top of it. Quietly he moved himself around the place, he didn’t want to wake the others up it was very early in the morning. He got himself ready for work (or at least that’s what he’s telling the others), and left a note about where he’s gone.

**

Running a hand over his face, he lets out a groan and stretches. He knows that this isn’t his own bed, but it’s comfortable and he just wants to go back to sleep but he has things he needs to do. Lifting the blanket off of himself, he pads himself across the floor picking up his things from the chair. In the living room, there is a note on the table, picking it up he read it.

‘ _Went to work. Stay as long as you like.’_

Simon just smiled a little to himself, deciding to make himself something to eat as well as Clary and Isabelle. When he had finished, Clary and Isabelle had walked in as if just in time. They sit at the table, making some small talk.

“So, you don’t like your father?” Isabelle questions with a small raise of her eyebrow as she looked at the red head, who just gave a small shrug. “You don’t have to talk about it, but know that I’m here and I’ll listen.”

Clary let out a small sigh and Simon was about to leave but she gave him a look that told him he can stay. “My father, he wasn’t a good man. My brother died before I was born and that set something off in him. This is what my mother told me, I only got told this story two years ago because she was afraid he’d find me if I moved away from her. Clearly I still moved,” Clary spoke with a weak smile, Isabelle reached out and gave her hand a small squeeze. “She told me that before I was born, he managed to kidnap an infant and named it after my brother. She said that was where he went every time that he wasn’t with us, to that kid. She never told me the details of what he did to the poor kid, just that Valentine abused him and that is why, when I was nine that he stopped coming around at all. Luke was the one knew more about it but he doesn’t want to tell me more then that the kid is doing fine now. I hope that they are, because my father was a madman for doing it to such a young thing. I hate my father for that reason; I don’t ever want to see his face again. But, he’s in town again. He wants to talk with me, tell me what he did. I went straight to Luke about it, and then we went to Java Jones.”

“Okay, whatever you do don’t answer his calls or text or _anything_ , okay Clary,” Isabelle says, giving her hand another squeeze of her hand.  The raven haired girl’s voice was firm when she spoke. “Whenever you can, go to Jace, not me, Jace. Or Luke, either of those two.”

“Why Jace?” Clary asks with a tilt to her head. Why would she go to Jace over Isabelle? There has to be something that Isabelle isn’t telling her but she trust her girlfriend enough to let it slide when Isabelle tells her that is all she can say. Isabelle presses a kiss to Clary’s cheek and picks up her plate.

“So, where did Jace say he was going too?” Isabelle muses as she’s cleaning the dishes, turning her head a little to look at Simon.

“The note said work,” Simon replies as he’s finishing off his cup of coffee. He notices the frown upon that forms upon Isabelle’s lips.

“It’s Sunday, the café is closed,” Clary comments and holds her hand out for the note. Simon hands it over to her and a frown forms upon her lips. “Where could he be then?”

“He’ll be back,” Isabelle sighs, continuing with the dishes.

**

He had been at the gym since six in the morning, it was now nine in morning and he was walking his way towards his brother’s place. He knocks on the door, waiting for him to open up the door. It was a few minutes later when his brother opens up the door, black hair a mess with his pyjama pants hanging off of his hips. Tattoo’s littered his arms and torso, just like his own body. “Hey Jace, what do you want?”

“Is Magnus here? He said he wanted to dye my hair, and I’m going letting him,” Jace says with a small smile.

“Ah, finally I get to touch that hair of yours,” The man in question greets as he’s wrapping his arms around Alec’s waist. Eye’s training onto the blond. A devilish smirk spread across his lips and they ushered Jace into their home.

“Want a coffee?” Alec questions as he walks into the kitchen, leaving Jace sitting on the chair in the living room.

“One would be nice,” Jace replies, his eyes watching as Magnus moves around the small station in the living room. The space was big enough to fit one little area for doing someone’s hair and make-up, while still having room to still look like a living area. “Do any colour, I don’t care.”

“I was planning on doing that anyway,” Magnus replies with a smirk upon his lips as he wraps a cape around him. “I had a colour in mind; I think it will suit you well. And don’t worry, I won’t put up a picture of the final product, I do know how you feel about that.”

“Thank you Magnus.” Jace thanks Magnus, because he knows that the other is a beauty vlogger and _loves_ to show off their works and is grateful that his face or any part of him won’t be on that. It’s for personal reasons.

Getting his hair done, it was a calming experience and he trusted Magnus enough to do what he wanted. So, he wasn’t stressing about what it is that the older male might be doing to his hair – as long as he doesn’t hear the sound of scissors. It’s almost an hour and half when Magnus is done, and he’s staring into a mirror. Running a hand through his now soft pink hair he lets a small smile tug at the corner of his lips because never in a thousand years would he ever choose the colour himself, but seeing the way it is now…he would definitely keep this colour. A few strands of light pink hair fall into his eyes so he pushes them back. He was busy admiring his new hair when Magnus broke his thoughts, “Looks like I’m going to the MasterVidCon this year.”

Jace gives the older male a smile, while Alec gives him a kiss on the cheek and a _well done babe_. “Who else is going?” Alec questions taking a seat on the couch, Magnus going to sit next to him and cuddling a little into his side.

“Looks like Clary and Simon are, they’re going as acts. They’re going to be so excited for that. What I’m excited for is _DemonicAngel_ , they’re finally going to one. Si and Clary are going to…” Magnus doesn’t get to finish the sentence when his phone starts to ping. “Well…it’s safe to say I’m not the only one who is excited to see _DemonicAngel_.” The beauty vlogger speaks with a soft laughter. “Are you going to go Jace?”

He gives a shake of his head, “No, not my kind of thing.”

“You miss out on a lot of fun,” Magnus comments, “Or is it the photo thing?”

“Photo thing,” Jace says with a quick nod, giving a small smile. It took a small while for Magnus to get use to Jace’s thing about not being photographed. While Jace does trust Magnus, he just can’t tell him _why_ he doesn’t want them up, just that he doesn’t. “Sad to leave you, but I’ve got Clary, Simon and Isabelle sitting in my house. I should go back there.”

“Double date did we?” There is a suggestive tone to Magnus’ voice as the words spilled past his lips, and Jace threw a cushion at other.

 “No, it was just friends and movies,” Jace says with a light shrug of his shoulder, dodging the cushion coming back at him.

“Oh my god Jace, just ask the poor boy out. It’ll be months before he does,” Magnus groans, throwing his head back into Alec’s crook of his neck. The other pressing a light kiss to the top of his lover’s head.

Raising an eyebrow Jace looks at the other, “Are you implying that he likes me?”

“Not implying, telling you straight out. Simon likes you, it’s the whole reason Izzy brought him to the café the first time. She wanted to set you two up.” Alec spoke up, “I told her not too, that you can find your own love life.”

“Go find your lover boy,” Magnus says with a shooing motion of his hands before he’s grabbing the remote of the coffee table.

Jace leaves with a roll of his eyes before he heads his way back to his own place, when he walks in he is greeted by Isabelle holding him into a tight hug. She pulls away and smacks his shoulder, “Don’t ever fucking lie again! I almost called Luke! You’re lucky that Alec thought he’d text me that you let Magnus touch your hair.” Her words were filled with worry and anger as she glared at him.

“Are you done?” Jace muses, raising an eyebrow at her. Letting himself smile a little when he feels her reach up to run a hand through his newly dyed hair. “Do you like it?”

“It’s pretty, it shows that your just as soft as you are tough,” She comments, the anger and worry gone from her voice now. She presses a soft kiss to his cheek before they walk into the living room to see Simon on his laptop and Clary drawing on the couch. Isabelle walks over to the kitchen.

“Can I stay with you for a while?” Clary asks as she looks up from her sketch pad. “I’ll film all my videos in the spare room, or back at my own place.”

“Yeah, you can stay here. And please, you know I don’t want my face out there,” Jace replies, letting a small smile spread across his lips. “What are you drawing?” He asks, nodding his head towards her sketch pad as he leans against the back of the couch.

She turns the pad to show him the drawing, it looked halfway there. He could make out a face that had wings and horns. “I’ve been working on it since one of my favourite YouTuber’s followed me.”

“Hey!” Simon called, looking over the top of his laptop, his foot going to poke at Clary as their feet were right in front of each other. “They’re _both_ of our favourites, and they followed me too.”

An innocent look flashed upon Jace’s face as he looked between the pair, “Who was is?” Though, from the drawing he _could_ guess who it was.

“ _DemonicAngel_ they’re amazing on the piano and _god_ their voice. I can’t wait until the Con where I can ask them how in the hell they found us.” Simon answers, before turning his eyes down to his laptop.

“You guys are talented, that’s how they found you,” Isabelle commented coming into the living room and handing Clary a cup of coffee. Setting her sketch pad to the side she smiles up at her girlfriend before taking the cup into her hand and she moving so that there is room for Isabelle to sit next to her. Or more like cuddle into each other.

“Izzy’s right, you guys are talented. Simon..,” Jace says turning to focus all his attention on the brunette. When the other looked up, he continued on with his sentence, “Would you like to maybe go on a date?”

Simon’s eyes went wide a little, and his fingers paused in their movements. Eyes trained upon Jace, “I…Yes. I would love that.”

“Wonderful,” Jace replied with a beaming smile, loving the one that’s on Simon’s face. “Do you have any plans for today?”

Simon shakes his head, lowering his laptop’s lid a little, “No, just uploading my video. Which is done now, you want to go on one now? I mean, I had these clothes on yesterday, shouldn’t I go home and change or something?”

A soft chuckle left Jace’s lips, “I can take you to your place and you can change if you want.”

“Okay…Okay, yes.” Simon says, picking up his laptop and moving towards the bedroom that had his shoes and jersey. Jace had picked up Simon’s bag that was sitting at the edge of the couch and shouldered it. “I’ll give Jace some of your things that you might need,” Simon says to Clary who smiles up at him.

“Just go on your date you two,” Isabelle tells them, motioning her hand and the pair walk out as the raven haired girl is typing on her phone.

**

Jace had taken Simon to his place to change into some clean clothes, and some of Clary’s things which were sitting in the back of his car as they now were sitting in a small café just near the university. Simon told Jace that is was the one that he and Clary went to before they found out about the one he works at. They find themselves in a small corner with their coffees in their hands, Jace asked Simon about what he was doing at Uni.

“I’m studying music at the University; it’s where I made friends with Raphael. Me and Clary had moved here two years ago. After convincing her mother that we would be fine…she and Luke ended up moving here as well. Music has always been a passion of mine, and I’ve just always loved it you know,” Simon’s words are fast as they’re flying out of his mouth and he lets his eyes fall down to look into his cup. “You know, if you want too, stop me talking just say so.”

“I love hearing your voice, it’s nice,” Jace tells him with a small smile, taking a sip of his drink. Noting the light redness that coloured Simon’s cheeks, “I learn a lot when you do. The little sparkle you get in your eye when you talk about your favourite movies, or books.”

“Please feel free to ever stop me if I get too much. I know it can be a handful,” Simon says, not looking up from his cup, the blush on his cheeks deepening when he feels Jace place a hand to cover his. “When’d you get that done? The nose? Tell me more about you.”

“I was sixteen, it was an impulsive decision. I got grounded for a month because of it,” There is a small laugh between them. “But I didn’t care, that was around the time I went on this _bender_ and almost flunked out of school. My siblings helped me out of it, and so did Maryse once she found her footing. I wasn’t the best kid and she was trying.” Unlike Robert, no Robert saw all his faults and told him flat out about them. “I think it was because I felt like I didn’t belong, you know with me being adopted and all.”

“That’s understandable, how long have you been with the Lightwood’s?” Simon questions as he looks at Jace with a soft smile curving upon is lips.

“Since I was ten, so that would make thirteen years. How long have you been friends with Clary? You two seem very close.”

“The start of elementary school. She kind of saved my clumsy self from falling into classroom, been friends from then on. She’s my best friend. Who’s your best friend?”

“Alec,” The name falls easily off of his tongue, and it’s the truest thing. It may be cliché to say his brother, but he is.

“That’s cool, me and my sister aren’t that close. We’re aright for siblings just not like that, you know,” Simon says and Jace gives a small nod of his head. The spend the next hour and a half talking about things here and there until they decided to go home, Simon so he could study and Jace to make sure that the girls haven’t taken over his place. He’s joking of course. Jace drops Simon off at his place, leaving him with a light kiss on the cheek. “I’ll text you for another one,” Simon tells Jace as the other walks back to his car.

**

 It’s almost two months later, and Jace is honestly the happiest he has been in a long time. Clary is now feeling safe enough for her to move back into her own place, and that was happening this afternoon. Right now, he was working with Lydia when Simon and Clary walk in. The two workers greet the pair with a smile as the red head goes to find a seat.

“Can I have a large long black, and a caramel latte?” Simon asks as he moves to the front of the counter, Jace was on the other side as Lydia was near the coffee machine.

“Take away cups?” Jace replies and smiles when he sees the nod he gets in reply. He programmes the order into the till and takes Simon’s money when he pays for the drinks. Watching as the brunette bounds over to Clary sitting at the table, Lydia was already getting started on the drinks when he walks over to her to help her. He only stops when he hears the front door open, so he’s moving his way back to the front of the counter. “He-,”

The words fall short from his mouth and he’s reaching for his phone under the counter, sending a quick text to Luke saying **_911\. V in Café. Clary is here._** Jace swallows, taking in a deep breath before looking at the man and putting on the best fake smile he can muster up. “You need to leave,” Jace says in an alarming calm voice. The pounding in his heart, it was starting up and he was trying not to let it drown him as each second passed and this man was in his workplace.

“I asked him here Jace,” Clary spoke up from her spot before walking over to her father. She couldn’t meet her father’s eyes so she just looks over at Jace, a pleading look in her eyes. “I needed to talk to him, just ask him a few things. I thought I’d do it in a controlled environment, Iz said I can trust you with things like this.”

Jace is sending a light glare towards Clary, “You don’t understand Clary.”

“What don’t I understand Jace?” Clary asks with a tilt to her head.

“Tell her Johnathan,” Valentine’s voice taunted, bringing Jace’s attention back to the man.

“You need to leave Valentine,” Jace spoke, his words low as he’s trying not to let his anger get into his voice, or the _panic_ that was rising into his chest along with the fast beats of his heart. He can feel Clary’s eyes on him, like she was trying to figure something out and staring at him to figure it out. “Leave.”

“Jace, why can’t I just talk to him?” Clary’s voice questions him.

Jace breaks his stare at the man to look at her, “Because…”

“Valentine hands up!” Luke’s voice calmly asks, walking into the café with his gun in his hand and badge on display. Valentine didn’t do anything, just smiled smugly as turned to look at the cop. “I said _hands up!_ ”

Clary takes a step back, Simon going to hold onto her as Jace stood frozen in his spot behind the counter. Lydia wasn’t moving from her spot, just watching as the scene unfolded. Slowly Valentine raised his hands up and Luke is quick to pull the older man’s hands behind his back and put a set of cuffs on him. “Is this how you greet an old friend Lucian?”

“Valentine Morgenstern, I’m placing you under arrest for violation of a court ordered restraining order. I’m sure you know your rights, but in case you’ve forgotten them; you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you,” Luke says pushing the other male into police car sitting out the front, he lets his partner take over while he goes back into the café to sort things out with the people in there.

“What restraining order? Please don’t tell me mum did that without my permission,” Clary asks her step father, eyes looking at him and seeing him watching a paling Jace. None of this was making sense to her, and she was trying her hardest to put it together.

Jace’s breathing was a little uneven, and his heart is racing so fast he doesn’t know what to do. Luke takes a careful step towards the counter, “Jace…it’s okay.” Luke speaks with a soft tone to his voice; he turns his attention to Lydia, “Is it possible for Jace to be let off early?”

Lydia nods her head, “Sure, I’ve got it.” She flashes a smile, and finishes off the coffee orders she had been filling out and handing them to Clary and Simon. She goes to the back to produce Jace’s things, “Jace, go home. You have many sick days owing anyway.”

“Simon, can you take Jace home? Clary, I’ll talk with you later,” Luke informs before he’s heading back out to the cop car and leaving.

His heart was beating hard against his chest; breathing was becoming a difficult thing for him to do. He could barely register the soft hand on his back that was guiding him out of the café. He let himself be lead towards his car; he was situated in the passengers and put his head in his hands and trying to control his breathing. In and out, he tries hearing the words in Alec’s voice, in Isabelle’s and in Maryse’s. It’s working; his breathing is slowing to an even rate. His heart isn’t though; it’s still hammering against his chest.

“Jace…We’re at your place, do you want me to stay?” It was Simon’s voice, and Jace gives a small nod of his head as he makes his way into the house. Simon wasn’t far behind him.

Jace takes a seat on the couch, legs pulled into himself as he watches Simon walk to the kitchen to make some tea for Jace. The TV is switched on, just as background noise when Simon enters the living area and hands Jace the cup of the hot drink. “Thank you.”

 “No problem,” Simon says as he sits opposite Jace, resting a soft hand upon Jace’s knee and rubbing his thumb a little. It went a little quiet between the pair and minutes later there was a knock at the door, “I’ll get that.”

The chatter between who was at the door didn’t register into his ears; the show that was on the TV wasn’t even registering because the volume was low. He closes his eyes a little and its calm enough that he can feel his heart rate falling into an even pace.

“Jace, are you alright?” Maryse’s voice said as she walked into the room, sitting herself right in front of her son. She reaches a hand over to push back some of his hair, “Luke called me; he wanted to let me know.”

“I’m fine Maryse, I am. I’ll stay home for the rest of the day, it’s not Clary’s fault. She doesn’t know,” Jace says as he’s taking a sip of his drink, he could never tell her. He wouldn’t want her view on him to change or the way she looked at him to change.

“Maybe you should let her know Jace, Isabelle said she knows the basics,” Maryse informs him, giving his knee a small squeeze. “I’ve got to go back to work, are you fine here?”

He nods his head a little, “Yeah, Simon’s here.”

Maryse gives him a smile, leaving after giving him a soft kiss upon his head. He loves Maryse, she’s the only mother figure he’s ever known in his life, and he knows that she tries even if she makes a few mistakes. He could never bring himself to hold a grudge at her for her mistakes because he knows he’s made his own. Simon walks back in with his guitar and Jace moves so that they’re sitting next to each other, his head resting on his boyfriend’s shoulder as Simon starts to play a song and softly singing to him.

**

 “Seriously, has that door always been locked?” Simon asks as he’s looking down the hallway at the door at the end of it. It has never been opened whenever he’s been at Jace’s. Ever since the accident with Valentine those weeks ago, three weeks if you want a time frame, Simon has been spending more of his time at Jace’s – not that either party is complaining.

“Yeah, it came locked,” Jace replies wrapping his arms around Simon’s waist, pressing a soft kiss to the back of Simon’s neck. “I never needed the room so I don’t care. What do you want for breakfast?”

“I’ll pick something up on my way to Clary. Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?” Simon asks, turning himself around so that he could put his arms around Jace’s neck. “We could always edit out any video we get of you.”

“I’m fine, I’m going to be helping Magnus with his things for the Con anyway,” Jace replies, “It’s a week away now, how are you feeling?”

“A little nervous, it is my first one as one of the guest. But, I guess I’ll be okay, I’ll meet some of my favourites and Clary is going to be there.”

“If you could collab with _any_ of them, that are attending – excluding Magnus and Clary of course, who would you want too?” Jace asks, giving Simon a quick kiss to his lips before pulling apart and walking to the kitchen.

“Okay, like…even though they don’t show their face, and no one knows who they are…I would honestly have to say _DemonicAngel_. Of course it’d be a musical collab, but still,” Simon answers following Jace, resting his elbows against the bench. “It would be awesome.”

“They would be lucky to have you collab with them,” Jace smiles as he sees the blush rising on Simon’s cheek. He presses a small kiss to Simon’s lips, “You better get going, you don’t want to feel Clary’s wrath.”

Simon rolls his eyes, “I think I can handle it.”

**

Clary is sitting at her desk, her laptop sitting in front of her as she edits the video they had made for that day. “Has Jace told you why he acted the way he did that day I wanted to see Valentine?” Clary asks, not looking away from the computer. Every time she brought it up to anyone, everyone just changed the subject.

Simon shakes his head, “No, why do you want to know anyway, no one’s telling you?”

“I just never showed him what my father looked like, or that his name was Valentine. It’s just been bugging me,” She says with a light shrug of her shoulder before handing the laptop over to Simon. “It’s ready for your touch.”

He nods his head and gets to his work, placing the right music over the video. His mind trying to make sense of what she was saying. “Maybe Luke did?”

Clary shrugs again, resting her head on Simon’s shoulder as she sits next to him, “Possibly,” She says with a sigh, but she doesn’t fully believe it. Simon’s phone pings and Clary looks at it, an audible gasp leaving her lips making Simon look at her. “Oh my god! You would not believe who wants to have you sing a song with them at the Con.”

Raising an eyebrow Simon reaches for his phone, looking at his messages on Twitter. “¡Dios mío!” Simon exclaimed, eyes going wide. The message he was reading, something he never thought he’d seen in a million years. He passes the laptop over to Clary, telling her that it can be uploaded now.

**_DemonicAngel;_ ** _Since we’re both going to MasterVidCon this year, and I love your videos how would you feel if we did something at the Con?_

**_LewisSimonLewis;_ ** _That would be amazing. I would love to do that._

**_DemonicAngel;_ ** _Wonderful, how about I send you the song I was thinking and you tell me what you think?_

**_LewisSimonLewis;_ ** _Sure._

**_DemonicAngel;_ ** _[Image Attachment]_

**_DemonicAngel;_ ** _[Image Attachment]_

**_DemonicAngel;_ ** _Those are the parts, I’ve highlighted the parts for you. You can go find the original song, and tell me of anything we might need to change_

**_LewisSimonLewis;_ ** _I can’t wait._ _J_

**_LewisSimonLewis;_ ** _It’s a great song, I love it_

There is a smile upon his lips, “I’m going to sing a song with _DemonicAngel_ , I can die a happy man.”

Clary lets out a small laugh, taking a picture of Simon and uploading it to Instagram before Simon’s rushing off to his room to start practicing. He spends the rest of the night practicing the chords and lyrics. He doesn’t notice when Clary pops in to give him food, or where she tells him where she’s going.

**

There is a rapid pounding on his door, letting out a sigh he walks out of the room and locking it behind him. Running a hand through his coloured hair, he opens up the door to see Clary standing there with her arms against her chest.

“Simon may not need an answer, but I do,” She says as she’s pushing past Jace and making herself at home by sitting on the couch.

A confused look spread across his features as he looked at the redhead sitting on his couch, “Uh…What are you talking about Clary?”

“Oh, I don’t know…maybe how the fact that you know my father? Or the reason why Izzy and Luke both said when I could be, to be around you or at your work, or at your house when my father was in town? Or how about the way you _reacted_ to seeing my father, who I’m sure I never showed you a picture of, because I sure as hell do not have one,” She rattled off the questions, and Jace just froze in his spot. “Answer me Jace.”

“No…I can’t…I can’t Clary. I’ve put that shit behind me,” Jace tells her, sitting himself down on the couch opposite her. It went quiet between the pair, and Jace’s eyes fell to the ground.

“Oh my…” Clary says after a while, her hand going over her mouth. “You’re Jonathan. You’re the boy my father stole and _abused_? Oh my…god. Jace, I’m _so_ sorry for what he did to you.”

Jace stiffens at hearing the old name, and the realisation that she _knows_ what he’s been through. He can’t look at her; he pulls at the sleeve on his hoodie that he was wearing. “Yes, I am but he did much worse than that. He almost _killed_ me, with a drug overdose and that was how he got caught. I…I don’t want to talk about this, at all. Please, don’t tell Simon this…I don’t want him to look at me like you are right now,” He says as he’s taking a look at Clary and seeing the look he feared he would see on her. “If this all you came here for, I’ve got something I was doing.”

“I’m so sorry, I am so sorry Jace,” Clary replies, “I won’t tell him, I promise.”

“Clary, stop apologising. Please,” He’s heard so many people apologising for what that man did, but the only apology he ever wants to hear is one out the man himself. It’s some kind of sick twisted dream he wants to happen, even though deep down he knows that it won’t happen.

She gives a small nod of her head, reaching over to pull him into a bit of a hug, “I’m sorry, I can’t help it. I’ll let you get back to what it was that you were doing, someone has to make sure Simon eats. Oh, he’s been practicing none stop since he got a new song to practice,” Clary added on when he saw Jace’s confused face. She pressed a light kiss to his cheek before letting herself out.

He sits on the couch for a few minutes collecting his thoughts before he grabs himself to eat before he’s heading back into the room he was in. Unlocking the door he slips in, closing the door behind him and going to the grand piano sitting in the middle of the room. Camera’s sitting above the instruments and directed at the piano, sighing he goes back to the laptop sitting on the bench. Fingers moving across the keyboard as he finished the last touches of his project before leaving the room once again, but this time when he came out it wasn’t to the sound of someone knocking – no it was to someone standing at the end of the hallway.

“What else have you lied about?” The voice asked as he turned the key to lock the door. He froze, for what felt like the millionth time that day. He knows exactly who that voice belongs too; he doesn’t need to turn around to know who the source is. “Jace, answer me.”

There is a small tiny cold laugh from his lips, as he turns to look at Simon at the other end of the hall. “You know, you and Clary are very alike,” Jace comments, avoiding the question completely and pocketing his keys. He slowly moves his way over to Simon, wrapping his arms around the other’s neck.

“You didn’t answer my question,” Simon states, a glare upon his features as he looks at him. “Magnus called me before, and I asked him how he went with getting things ready for the Con. You want to know what he said?”

Jace’s face faulted a little, taking a step back from his boyfriend because he knows exactly where this was going and what it may look like, “That I wasn’t there, or that he already has things sorted.”

“You’re not even _trying_ to defend your lie! Where were you?” Simon demanded to know, arms crossed against his chest.

“I went to the gym, but other than that, I’ve been home all day. I _swear_ on my life,” Jace says, he was telling the truth. He only left the house for the gym today; rest of it had been spent in that room at the end of the hallway.

“In the room that you said was locked, and had been since you arrived?” It seemed like Simon wasn’t going to let this go, but Jace just _can’t_ let him know, or anyone. “What’s in there Jace?”

“Nothing, okay. Nothing, Si, it’s just a room,” Jace is pleading to anyone out in the world of gods, to anyone who’ll listen to let Simon believe him because he just can’t deal with having another one of his little secrets come out today.

“Then show me,” Simon demanded, glare fixated on Jace who shifted a little on his feet.

“No, I can’t.”

“Can’t or won’t? They’re two different things Jace.”

“Both, Si, but trust me. Please, it will _not_ be anything you’re thinking of,” He hates how his voice has gone weak and pleading, he sounded desperate.

“I can’t. Unless you show me what’s in the room, I cann _ot_ trust you because you’ve lied to me _two_ times within one day.”

“Are you…Are you breaking up with me?” Jace asks a little break in his voice as he watches Simon carefully. He can’t fight the tear that falls down his cheek when Simon gives a nod of his head, “Si, please don’t.”

Jace goes to reach out for Simon, but he just pulls back and walks out the door, leaving Jace broken hearted. He hears a certain tone go off in the locked room and sucking in a deep breath he unlocks it once again. Finding his laptop he sees a message;

**_LewisSimonLewis;_ ** _I’m sorry; I think I have to pull from the duet_

It took all he could not to throw the laptop across the room; he just shuts it down and calls up Alec as he goes to lie down in his bed.

**

Clary’s throwing an arm around his shoulder’s as they walk through the back entrance – one for acts only. She gives him a squeeze, “Hey, it’s MasterVidCon, here you can forget about Jace and his lies.” Clary leaned into press a light kiss to his cheek, “This is our day, come on.”

Simon nods his head, “Okay, I can do that.”

“Good! Because our Q and A is up next, and then we gotta book it over to the other stage in time for _DemonicAngel’s_ piece. I still can’t believe they moved it to right after our time slot, making us have less time to get there,” Clary spoke with a small huff before letting a security member lead them to where they needed to be.

Questions went by quick and answer came easy, and it was honestly fun and Simon ended up singing a few songs, and then their time was up. By the time they arrived at the stage with _DemonicAngel_ they had already started with a cover they’re known for. It was angelic, and Simon loved it. He loved it when he first saw the video, and now hearing it live was just magical. He couldn’t help the small smile that spread across his lips, when the song came to an end it felt like there were someone’s eyes on him but he couldn’t see anyone, and he’s standing behind the curtain with Clary so only other performers would see him. He shook the thought out of his head, and then there was a soft note of the piano starting.

“Behind this mask, both literally and figuratively I went through a kind of hard thing…and I feel like this song helps for me to put it into words, here we go,” DemonicAngel spoke, voice distorted due to the voice modifier they used when they spoke. There was little movement as they turned off the modifier so their voice filled the room along with the piano keys.

 _How can I say this without breaking_  
How can I say this without taking over  
How can I put it down into words  
When it's almost too much for my soul alone  
  
I loved and I loved and I lost you  
I loved and I loved and I lost you  
I loved and I loved and I lost you  
And it hurts like hell  
Yeah it hurts like hell

The voice was soft, and Simon could hear the pain in the singer’s voice. It kind of made his own heart break at remembering his own relationship and how it is no longer. He could feel tears brimming his eyes a little, and Clary took hold of his hand and gave it a squeeze.

  
_I don't want them to know the secrets_  
I don't want them to know the way I loved you  
I don't think they'd understand it, no  
I don't think they would accept me, no  
  
I loved and I loved and I lost you  
I loved and I loved and I lost you  
I loved and I loved and I lost you  
And it hurts like hell  
Yeah it hurts like hell  
  


His heart feeling heavy, he decides to pick up his phone and call Jace. He tries, but there is no answer, and maybe he did deserve it a little because every time Jace tried, Simon ignored him. He tried a few times but all he got was Jace’s voicemail.

  
_Dreams fight with machines_  
Inside my head like adversaries  
Come wrestle me free  
Clean from the war  
Your heart fits like a key  
Into the lock on the wall  
I turn it over, I turn it over  
But I can't escape  
I turn it over, I turn it over  
  
I loved and I loved and I lost you  
I loved and I loved and I lost you  
I loved and I loved and I lost you  
And it hurts like hell

Deciding to leave a voicemail after the fifth attempt, he sucks in a bit of courage. “Jace, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten that mad at you, I don’t think you would cheat on me. I can’t say I didn’t think of that, but I’m sorry. You make me happy Jace, you really do and I don’t know what’s going on with this message anymore, but I’m calling to tell you that I’m sorry and maybe we could just _talk_ about this? Call me back please?”

“You don’t have to take him back,” Clary says, holding his hand and rubbing her thumb soothing against the back of his hand.

“I know, but I think I love him Clary and it…to quote that song, it hurts like hell. This week has been hell,” Simon says giving Clary’s hand a squeeze.  It has been hell not going to the coffee shop to see Jace, been hell ignoring his calls and texts. But, he wanted to the distance between them because how could he be in a relationship with someone who lies.

Clary and Simon just stood where they were, watching the rest of the performance. When it was over, the crew came onto the stage to move the piano and DemonicAngel moved their way over to Clary and Simon. The pair of friends stood back a little, because the next act was walking past them and they nearly missed the piano player.

“That was _amazing_ ,” Simon complimented with a smile upon his lips, eyes moving over the performer. They were dressed in tight black jeans, combat boots with leather fingerless gloves covering their hands. A tight grey long sleeve shirt, with a leather vest which had a hood covering their hair as well as a mask covering their face, “I’m sorry for pulling the song you wanted to do, it’s just something came up and I didn’t feel like…I could do it.”

“Simon, if you don’t like liars, do not talk to me. I lie if you can’t tell,” DemonicAngel spoke, a gloved hand motioning to the mask on their face before they’re leaving the friends with their jaws dropping.

“What was that about?” Clary asked, a puzzled expression spreading across her features. She looked up to her friend who was too stunned to say anything back, “Maybe they aren’t as good as we thought. Maybe what they say is true, that your idols can be assholes. That was a dick move, when we get home, I’m unfollowing them on everything.”

Simon just gives a small nod of his head, “Don’t we have a photo op to get too?” He questions, and Clary looks down at her phone and nods. So, the duo goes to where they’re needed and try their best to forget what had happened before.

**

His laptop is sitting on top of the piano – right next to the sober chips he had worked so hard for and always kept on display for his videos, the uploaded video playing as he watches it play. The frightened boy hidden behind a mask, talking to his audience, there were tears falling from his eyes as he watched because this was a part of him that he had for the last few years, and now he’s saying goodbye.

_“This is my last video I am posting. I had a wonderful time at MasterVidCon, I did. It was amazing to see many people admire the thing I love, it truly was, but I do not think I can do this anymore. It’s all too much lying for me, but I cannot tell you who I am for personal reasons. I hope that you guys can understand this, and please know that I love every single one of my subscribers and every fan I have. I had never expected to be so well liked when I first posted online, you guys are a part of me and you will forever be so even if I no longer post videos. I’ll be keeping the channel up, keeping my twitter up but I will no longer be available on them. I love you all, and I’ll play you guys one more song.”_

The soft keys of the piano started and his voice played on until the video finished, watching as the comments poured in and it was breaking his heart. His second phone, why did he bother turning it on, because it’s pinging off the hook with no doubt a lot of notifications as people started to talk about his leaving. It was a hard choice he had to make, but he hopes that he made the right one in the long run. Turning off the devices, he leaves the room and locks the door for the last time.

Hearing his phone going off, he decides to ignore it as he didn’t really feel like talking to anyone. Instead, he uses his phone to call for some pizza and he opens up his fridge to grab out one of the beers he had in there. Isabelle would be mad if she knew he had some in there, Maryse would be too but he didn’t care he just wanted to drown his sorrows with the liquid and some pizza.

He’s sipping on his third drink when there’s a knock at his door, thinking it’s his pizza he grabs his wallet and opens the door. A light frown formed on his lips when he saw Simon there, with his pizza in his hands. Raising an eyebrow at him, he holds out the cash, “What you a delivery boy now?” Jace quips, not caring that his words sound a bit slurred.

“Jace, can we talk?” Simon asks, stepping into the place and moving into the living room. There was a frown forming on his lips when he saw the empty beer bottles on the coffee table. He sets the pizza on the table as he takes a seat on the couch, “I paid the pizza guy, put away your money.”

“I think you were clear when you ignored my calls that you don’t actually want to talk. I’m a fucking liar after all,” Okay, so Jace is a little angry but he doesn’t want to feel sad anymore, he’s had enough of it. “You shouldn’t talk to liars if you don’t like people who lie.”

Simon’s tilting his head to the side a little, head turning so that he’s looking at Jace standing in the doorframe “That’s eerily similar to something _DemonicAngel_ said to me at the con.”

Jace is letting out a cold laughter, finally taking a seat on the opposite end of the couch, “Have you heard the news? Your precious _DemonicAngel_ is no longer making videos. Gave up like the weakling he fucking is.”

“What?” Simon says before he’s on his phone, a message from Clary saying to look at _DemonicAngel’s_ latest video. So, that is what he does. Opening up YouTube and finding the video, watching the video he goes wide eyed, hand over his mouth. “So they’re not putting out videos doesn’t mean they’re not… _wait_ …don’t you dare call someone weak for what they did. Sometimes people can’t take things anymore.”

“Fucking asshole couldn’t even remove his mask, to fucking scared of the fucking world,” His bottle was empty and reached for pizza box. “If you want to talk, get me another beer and I’ll be fucking ready. Fuck feeling sad, I hate it…I just want to feel fucking numb.”

“No, I’m not getting you another beer and you need to stop acting like you fucking know someone when you don’t,” Simon retorts, arms crossing against his chest. He wasn’t going to help Jace feed whatever it was that was lurking in him.

“What? Do you know who the fuck _DemonicAngel_ is, because if so en-fucking-lighten me,” Jace replies, biting into the pizza, glaring a little at Simon.

“You’re drunk and you’re being an asshole. No one knows who they are, that was the idea. Eat your pizza then I’m putting you to bed, we can talk in the morning,” Simon says, shoving the pizza box over to Jace, rolling his eyes when the other let out a whine. He did his best to ignore the words that came out of the other’s mouth as he cleaned up with living area, empty bottles into the trash can. He sets up Jace’s bed for him and sets out some clothes for him to change into.

Half an hour later and Jace was in bed laying on his side with a bucket next to his bed because the boy got into another bottle while Simon was sorting out the room. When Jace’s breathing becomes even and Simon can hear faint snores coming from his lips, he settles himself onto the couch. Sending a text to Clary telling her that he won’t be home, he turns on the TV and just watches it until he falls asleep on the couch.

Waking up, Simon goes to drain all the beer into the sink – Isabelle had told him to do that for reasons she didn’t explain and he didn’t question. The last bottle was being poured when there was the sound of someone throwing up. Letting the last of the liquid drain before he makes his way into the bathroom to see Jace hunched over the toilet, his coloured hair falling over his face.

He coughs a few times before pulling away from the toilet, a hand reaching up to flush the contents. Jace lets out a groan and wipes at his mouth, “I know you’re there Si.” Jace’s voice is weak as the words fall past his lips; he doesn’t move to look at him instead he just stares at the tiled floor.

“You feeling better? Would you be up for some breakfast? Also, I called into your work to let them know that you can’t go in today,” Simon says walking over to place a gentle hand on Jace’s shoulder.

“I’m not hungry; I just want to sleep off this hangover. Can I do that?” Jace asks, finally turning his head to look at Simon.

“Sorry, I still want to talk. We can do that in your bed, go there and I’ll bring you some water and aspirin,” Simon tells him before leaving the bathroom and grabbing a glass of water and aspirin. Happy to see Jace sitting on his bed, he hands the two over to the other male who takes them and downs the whole glass of water. Simon takes a seat next to Jace, who decides to lay himself on the bed, head in Simon’s lap. His old habit of running his fingers through Jace’s hair itched for him to do it again but he fought it. “I’m sorry Jace, the way I ended things. I know you didn’t mean to hurt me, but I felt like you couldn’t trust me because of the lies. Why did you lie?”

“I can’t trust anyone…no one could know. Not even Alec or Izzy knows, and if you knew and they didn’t they’d succeed in killing me,” Jace’s words come out a little mumbled, but Simon catches them.

“Succeed? That sounds like someone has tried to kill before,” Simon comments, pushing up his glasses with his fingers.

“Someone has, I was like…ten. Drug overdose but…I didn’t take the drugs willingly, Valentine forced them into me. It was so _horrible_ , I hated that feeling and everything that came after it. I meet Luke, who helped me and the Lightwood’s. He’s a good cop; I can see why Clary’s mother picked him over Valentine. It’s because of that, that I have a restraining order against Clary’s father and why Iz told her to be near me, because _he_ can’t be near me. I’m telling you all this because I’m just so sick of lying. It’s all too much, but this is a part of me and it always has been and will always be.” Jace says, sucking in a long deep breath and slowly letting it out.

“When I was maybe fifteen that was when things started to go very south for me, I started to bring in problems into the family. I started to drink a lot; I would fuck anyone who would so much as look my way. It was like, I need some kind of…I honestly don’t know what it was. Six months into my…bender, Maryse and Robert, they announced they were getting a divorce and I blamed my behaviour on it and yet…I continued it for another year. It was when I almost flunked out of school that everyone saw what I was doing to myself. It hurt me seeing Izzy cry because of me, seeing Maryse blame herself for my problems and thinking she wasn’t a good parent. She was a fucking good mother, she fucking tried her best. Alec…he could barely look at me without sadness in his eyes,” He’s sniffling a little, a few tears falling down his face and he wipes at his face with the back of his hand. Simon was just listening, and Jace was glad, because he really was sick of lying and wanted everything off of his chest.

“I got sober, started going to the gym. I _did_ flunk out of school actually…but because I found myself a job. The one I’m currently in. I also started getting back into my music, playing on the piano in the living room of the Lightwood’s. One day, I uploaded a video. No face, just my hands and the keys because I was scared of Valentine. Scared he’d find me through it if I showed my face. God, I didn’t expect for people to find it and for people to want more. But, they did… and I became…” Jace just stops because he just can’t find the words to say it.

He knows what the words are, he does but he can’t seem to form them. The words fall silent on his tongue when he feels Simon’s fingers carding through his hair, it was a nice comfort to him and he just wanted to soak in this moment before he has to do something. Letting a few moments pass before he closes his eyes and pushes himself up off of Simon’s lap.

He grabs his keys that were sitting on the bedside table and walked down the hall, stopping at the door as he waited for Simon to come next to him. When he was at his side, Jace slid the key into the keyhole and unlocked the door. He lets Simon walk into the room, throwing his head back he braces himself for some kind of yelling, or _something_ but all he ends up hearing is a soft gasp. Making himself walk into the room, he see’s Simon standing in the middle of the room eyes fixated on the outfit in the corner.

“ _That’s_ why DemonicAngel suddenly wanted to collab with someone, because _you_ are them,” Simon says when Jace takes a seat at the piano. Lifting the cover up, fingers ghosting over the keys and Simon takes a spot next to him.

“Was…I **was** DemonicAngel,” Jace says in a soft voice, “How can I continue being him when I fucked up our relationship to keep him going. This is what I was doing last week; this is what this room is, it’s my room for making videos.”

Simon doesn’t really know what to say, Jace said that no one knows even his siblings don’t know about this. He’s sitting in the room of his favourite YouTuber, and he _dated_ him. “Now, at least what you said at the Con makes sense now,” It was stupid, and he wishes the words didn’t come out of his mouth. He’s mentally cursing himself, wishing he could find something to say but for once his brain is coming up with nothing. Looking a Jace, he could see tears falling down his cheeks so he reached a hand up to wipe at the tears and turning Jace’s face so they were face to face, and he wipes the tears off of the other side. “I’m sorry, I also fucked this up because I did believe you when you said you were here all day. I should have trusted you, and your privacy as to why you didn’t want me to see this room. I think we could have communicated a bit more better than we had, but here’s the thing…I’m still willing to give us a shot because I understand a _whole_ lot better now.”

A sharp intake of air came from Jace as he took in Simon’s words. The words processing in his mind before he’s leaning in to press a soft gentle kiss to Simon’s lips, pulling away just millimetres away and letting himself feel Simon’s breath ghost over his lips. “I love you Simon,” his words light and true as the fall past his lips.

“I love you too. I fucking love you Jace okay,” Simon says, pressing a kiss to Jace’s lips. “I…” kiss to Jace’s forehead, “love…” a kiss to Jace’s nose, “you…” a kiss to Jace’s cheek, “Jace…” one to his other cheek, “fucking…” and one to kiss lips again, “Lightwood.”

There is a soft laugh coming from Jace’s lips as he lets a smile form on his lips, “I love you soo much Simon, it was hell the past week. I’m sorry.”

“We can put this week behind us okay, it was a bump in our love story. Every love story has their bumps okay, just be as honest with me as you can please,” Simon says, taking hold of Jace’s hand into his own.

Jace gives a nod of his head, “I promise Simon, I promise no more lies.”

“Good, now you can go sleep your hangover off,” Simon says with a light laugh in his voice, and smiles when Jace laughs as well.

Jace stands up and drags Simon along to his bed where they lay down on his bed, with Jace cuddling into Simon’s side. “Sing me to sleep?” Jace asks as he lets his eyes drift shut.

“Next time, you should since me to sleep,” Simon replies, smiling widely when he hears Jace agree so he starts to sing a song so softly, threading his fingers through Jace’s hair as the other drifts off into a light sleep to his voice.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you guys enjoyed this, i'm not sure if all terminology used is used around the world, but the ones used are ones used where i am from and what i call them. also, this took almost a week to write, and i had fun.
> 
> ps. i do personally work in a cafe myself so i kinda based is off some of the places i've worked/how i feel a cafe should run


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